Chapt. v. Baiting a single salmon hook. 51 



This may seem a long troublesome and fidgetty pro- 

 cess, but it should not occupy as long in the doing as it 

 does in the describing, and if you have an attendant with 

 you, he can always be preparing a bait for you while 

 you are fishing, and whenever your bait is spoilt by a fish, 

 or by long or rough usage, you can at once change it for 

 a fresh one by using the double loop recommended in the 

 chapter on tackle in the manner there suggested. This 

 change can be effected in about ten seconds, or may be 

 less, and the soiled bait left for the attendant to remove 

 from the hook and replace by another fresh one. 



If you have not got a treble hook, a single bare salmon 

 hook can be used very well for this purpose, the hook be- 

 ing pulled into the vent after the line shank foremost, till 

 the fish is well down on to the bend of the hook, and there 

 is really little more than the point showing. A No. 4, 5 

 or 6 hook will do very well for this purpose. 



The only objection I have heard made to this mode of 

 baiting is that the bait is apt to bend too much by drag- 

 gling down on to the hook, because there is nothing in the 

 line to give it rigidity and keep it straight. But I have 

 not found this myself if care is taken not to embed the 

 hook further away from the head than the vent hole, and 

 if it be a fault it is one that is easily remedied by insert- 

 ing the baiting needle not at the anus, but a trifle nearer 

 to the head. In such case insert it not in the stomach, 

 which is liable to tear away, but in firm flesh half way 

 up the side, and take care to pass the baiting needle, not 

 simply under the skin, but through a good piece of flesh 



7* 



